Miners bounce back, beat Pilots

PALMER — A pair of Alaska Baseball League leaders helped the Mat-Su Miners bounce back after a pair of frustrating losses.

Spencer Henson blasted his league-best fifth home run and Bryce Tassin notched his league-high seventh save during a 5-3 come-from-behind victory over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots Tuesday night at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.

Mat-Su improved to 20-12 with the win, and pushed its lead in the league standings back to three games. The win also snapped a two-game skid. Anchorage edged the Miners 5-4 Monday night, and the Peninsula Oilers scored a 6-5 walk-off victory over Mat-Su Sunday afternoon in Kenai.

The Miners trailed 3-2 in the eighth, but rallied for three in the inning. Henson, who now leads the ABL with five home runs and 23 RBI, drove in Caleb Van Blake to tie the score at 3. Van Blake led off the inning with a triple.

Later in the inning, Henson scored on an Austin Pinorini double to give the Miners the 4-3 advantage. Tyler Bosetti padded the advantage with a sacrifice fly that scored Pinorini.

Henson gave Mat-Su its first lead in the game with a solo shot in the third. It was his third in three days. The Oral Roberts standout went deep twice Monday night.

Nathan Bock earned the win in relief. Tassin worked the ninth and earned the save.

The Miners finished with five extra-base hits in the win. Pinorini finished with a double and a triple, and scored two runs.

Mat-Su is off Wednesday and returns to the field to host the Anchorage Bucs Thursday at 7 p.m. at Hermon Brothers.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.